The second period of Game 5 did not start well for the Washington Capitals.
The Capitals were struggling to get shots, with only one shot on goal in the first 14 minutes of play, the 2nd period looked a lot like the two defeats in Carolina.
After an odd-man rush led to a chance for Washington, John Carlson was penalized for goaltender interference on what can only be called a... er, controversial call.
John Carlson called for goalie interference after getting shoved into Petr Mrazek by Jordan Staal. Crazy stuff. pic.twitter.com/9sB92xieab
— Ian Oland (@ianoland)
April 21, 2019 If the Caps were to avoid the fate of the previous two games, it would be on the penalty kill to take care of business.
And that unit, with goaltender Braden Holtby behind them, made sure there were no slips.
Damn good PK by the #Caps there...Lots of short shift...Excellent work done by Eller, Wilson, Dowd, Carlson. Think #Canes only had one shot.
— Chris Russell (@Russellmania621)
April 21, 2019 Again....
#Caps kill it off. Another tremendous job by them. Not quite the justice I laid out, but it will have to do.
— Craig Hoffman (@CraigHoffman)
April 21, 2019 2 excellent kills. 1 shot on goal. https://t.co/KpsVj04gjG
— Chris Russell (@Russellmania621)
April 21, 2019 And again....
Good pad save by Holtby a minute ago on Faulk's shot from the point. Seems to struggle with it at first but got a fairly clean look. #Canes now lead in SOG, 15-11. Siegenthaler to box for hooking. 3rd PK of period. Playing with FIRE. #Caps
— Chris Russell (@Russellmania621)
April 21, 2019 Another great kill for the #Caps. Hagelin, Carlson and Orpik doing some heavy lifting there. Washington still leads 1-0 late 2nd despite two CAR power plays in this second period.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen)
April 21, 2019 And again. The Hurricanes were unable to score and went 0-for-5 on the power play Saturday night in Washington.
Then the reward came for the Capitals hard work when down a man. First, it was Backstrom scoring his second of the night with Alex Ovechkin getting yet another assist.
On all other nights we sometimes don't score once, on this night Backstrom scores twice! #Caps #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/kw35P8fIAA
— 106.7 The Fan (@1067theFan)
April 21, 2019 Then, after a mental mistake came from Canes defensman Dougie Hamilton, led to Ovechkin getting his second assist of the night on Brett Connolly's first goal. This would give the Caps two goals on just three shots in the 2nd period of Game 5.
Alex Ovechkin has taken over. Have no fear the Captain is here. Just won a puck race because somebody was afraid of getting hit. Feed to Conno for a goal. #Caps pic.twitter.com/NHP8XJioYo
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen)
April 21, 2019 #Caps have taken 3 shots in the 2nd period and have scored two goals. Is that good? #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/k5licr7bUJ
— 106.7 The Fan (@1067theFan)
April 21, 2019 So much for not having a spark in the 2nd period! Backstrom the long stretch feed past Ovechkin, who out-races a #Canes defender to puck and dishes it to Brett Connolly , who slams it home...3-0 #Caps
— Chris Russell (@Russellmania621)
April 21, 2019 On home-ice the defending Stanley Cup Washington Capitals look like defending Stanley Cup champions.
